5 steps to the perfect 2019

We’re only 50 days away from 2019. This means that the holiday season is quickly approaching and things are about to get busy. Sometime in the next 50 days, you should be planning for 2019. What will your business look like? What are your goals? There is a lot of important information to figure out! Lucky for you we’re here to help. Here are 5 things that you need to be doing to have a great 2019.

1. Know what happened in 2018

It simply isn’t enough to know what is happening today. It is extremely important to take a look at the past 12 months, both in your own business as well as the real estate industry as a whole. Let’s start with the industry.

Take a look at what the typical seller looked like in 2018:

• 55 years old

• Lived in their home for 9 years before selling

• Most common reason for selling was because the home was too small for their needs

• Their new home purchased was within 20 miles of their last home

How does this information come into play for 2019? If the average home seller is 55 and looking for a bigger home, you can use that information to your advantage when marketing new listings! When creating Facebook ads for example, start the age demographic around 55 when promoting a larger home! You can also target your ad language to speak to someone who has lived in a home for a substantial amount of time and is looking to have more space. Use the information to your advantage!  

Now let’s talk about buyers.

Here is a snapshot of the typical buyer in 2018:

• 46 years old

• 63% were married couples

• 33% were first time homebuyers

• 87% purchased their home through an agent

• 55% looked online at properties as the first step in their search

• Buyers need 7.2 years on average to save a 20% downpayment

Again, this information is so useful. As online home searching becomes more and more prevalent, it is important to you as an agent to make sure that your marketing is up to par! When promoting listings on the market, target them to married couples around the 46 year old age range. Be clear in what the home features, and even gear it more towards things that a newly married couple or first time homebuyer would be interested in (perhaps a 2 car garage or open concept floor plan for entertaining).

Now that we’ve covered the real estate industry in 2018, let’s talk more about your specific business.

Before diving into this, do us a favor and download Jared James’ 2019 business plan here. Take a look at page 5. Here you will see a sheet with a breakdown of your 2018. Fill this out and recap your year. Learn where your business came from – it will be important when planning for 2019! This brings us to our next point: knowing your numbers.

Download Jared James 2019 Business Plan Now!

2. Know your numbers and how to reach them

To help with this, Jared James has also created a digital plan for 2019 that you can download here. This plan breaks down your business from the past 12 months and organizes it into sections based on your source of business. For example, how much did you invest in social media and what was the return on that? How much business are you generating from referrals? It then asks you to create goals for 2019. Based on your GCI and stats from you 2018 year, it will determine what needs to happen in 2019. From how many listings you need to close to how many conversations you need to be having per week, this planner is the perfect tool to get on track.  

3.    Commit to change

What will you commit to in 2019? Will it be more social media use? Focusing more on gaining clients through methods other than referrals? While it’s great to know what you should be doing in 2019, the most important part is committing to it.

Commit to your 2019 action plan.

Figure out what your best uses of time are, what you’ve been doing wrong, and what you’ll commit to changing in the New Year. Lucky for you, there is a section for this in Jared’s business plan as well! Get to it!

4.    Plan your perfect day and perfect week

Now that you know how much work you need to be doing to reach your goals for 2019, it’s time to map it out in the “perfect day” and “perfect week.” Are you sensing a trend here? We want you to be organized and efficient with your time! Putting things into a plan holds you accountable and keeps you on track.

Anyways, back to the perfect day and perfect week. Go ahead and click here to download the great day planner, and click here for the great week planner. When planning a “great day,” this form plans out your listing activity, sales activity, revenue and closings. While it allows you to create goals for each day, it also holds you accountable by requesting that you truthfully input the actual amounts for each of the goals you set for the day. By completing this, you can keep track of your daily tasks and accomplish things that align with your overall 2019 goals.

In regards to a “great week”, this is all about time management. Take a look at the weekly planner. While it does mention completing and showing to your coach, that applies to those individuals who are enrolled in Jared’s One on One Coaching program (if you’re curious about this click here). Those of you not enrolled in this can still determine how much time each week you will dedicate to things like follow up, exercise, family time, prospecting and things of the like. By blocking out your time for these things, you can again hold yourself accountable to get tasks completed.  

5. Follow changing trends and know what is happening in the market

While we touched upon what happened in the market during 2018, 2019 could be an entirely different scenario. It is important to stay up to date with things trending in the industry. There are likely going to be changed in the social media area as video continues to make an impact on the market.

Don’t lose track of these things! Be sure to follow us on Instagram at @jarja_media as we post real estate stats and news trends to keep you in the game.

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You have 50 days to plan – take advantage of them! Start practicing time blocking now and figure out how you want to implement it into your 2019 plan.

It’s not too late to make a change and commit to changing your business. Questions about any of this? Comment below and reach out! We’re always happy to help.  

- Alicia, Marketing Assistant

Creating a Creative Workspace

Take a minute to think about your last creative project. What was your work setting like? Did you feel motivated to complete the project? If not, think about a place where you feel the most creative. It impacts your work more than you think!

With our recent growth, we were running out of space in our old office which led us to look for a new office space. This would give us to the opportunity to redesign a workspace based on not only our needs but more importantly, our wants! Being that our work environment is very collaborative and warrants conversations amongst the group, it was a given that our new space would need to be a more communal work space versus the traditional cubicle life. We even put that in our job postings: “NO Cube Life”.

We wanted to create a space that truly is a tool to solidify our culture while balancing our passion and ability to get things done. Our space is distinctly different from any other office in our current complex; that was done on purpose. We want our employees to feel comfortable in a work space so they can be engaging and productive which will benefit the entire company. This is why our physical space gives our employees the ability to move between standing height tables, traditional desks and lounge settings which all support the fast exchange of ideas, strategy and action items. 

People want the freedom to work “their way,” just like we live our lives.

Very few of us spend the day tethered to a desktop computer anymore. Giving an employee an alternative atmosphere to settle into a comfy bean bag chair or perch on a stool at the counter encourages self-expression and authenticity.

Does it sound too good to be true? While our office entices a fun atmosphere, it isn’t the sole reason our employees show up to work. Even with ping pong tables and unlimited access to food and drinks, our team still strives to do their best work, and are more so motivated to complete tasks when they are creatively inspired.

Lastly, we need to think of these spaces as places to attract talented millennials. A recent study showed that 80% of respondents recognize that physical space play a direct role in fostering a vibrant culture. 32% of 18-34 year olds would prefer to work in a lounge setting filled with ottomans, stools and other causal options vs. the “cube life”. Speaking from personal experience, when deciding between two job offers, I decided on the company which had an office space which was like nothing I’d ever seen before versus the traditional cubicle office.

Your employees want a space they are proud to show off and be involved in.

Even though it may seem like a small factor, a unique office environment can be enough of a factor to sway someone to take a job over another that is full of gray cubicles and an setting that lacks creativity and a modern feel.

This company is run with heart and transparency, fueling a special kind of culture that has become the envy of established organizations searching for that same energy and vibe. Providing your employees with a flexible, authentic environment that engages them, allows them to experience a sense of meaning and belonging. Your space can be a tool to help build that culture. Try it out for yourself. Work from a new space today, or rearrange your desk space to get more creative. Let us know how you get inspired!

- Anthony, Marketing Manager

3 Ways to Dominate Your E-mail Campaigns

If you aren’t utilizing e-mails or e-mail drip campaigns, you’re missing out on a huge marketing opportunity! E-mail is an excellent tool to be using especially because they can be automated- which means you’ll have more time to focus to other areas of business.

Before you start setting up automated e-mails there’s a few things you should and should not be doing that can make or break your e-mail open rates, click through rates, and percentage of people who unsubscribe. Let’s break some things down.

1.  Treat Your First E-mail Like Your First Date

Just like a first date, your first e-mail is potentially the beginning to a beautiful relationship. And first impressions matter!

It is going to be worth spending the extra time to polish the first e-mail your subscribers will read. Make the welcome e-mail: fun, structured, easy to read, and make sure your reader understands what they are getting themselves into- what can they expect moving forward?  Who knows -maybe you’ll get that 2nd date!

2.  Your Subject Lines

This is arguably the most important part to any e-mail you will ever write. Why? It’s the first thing people read when they get an e-mail! Most business owners don’t devote enough energy into writing a good subject line- don’t procrastinate this step!

Here’s the thing- if someone doesn’t make it past your subject line, they never have the chance to make it to the content, offer, etc. that you are providing in the body.

So what kind of advice do we have to offer you?

-Keep it short (10 characters or less have a 58% open rate)
-Drive urgency (use words like Urgent/Important/Limited Time)
-Stay Casual (Emojis are your friend!)

3.  Get Personal

You may be shocked to hear that customers and clients want to hear from you most often by e-mail. What is more shocking is that 80% of consumers also expect those e-mail communications to be personalized according to MarketingSherpa.

80% of consumers also expect those e-mail communications to be personalized

Here is the thing- you don’t need a crazy amount of data to send a personalized email. Their first name, zip code, birthday, and home purchased anniversary date are all enough to get their attention!

Birthday emails are 235% more likely to be opened and also have 300% higher click-through rates than typical promotional e-mails according to Experian white paper. Too bad you can only send those once a year!

Another simple way to stay personalized while using their first name is to use this merge field in the body of your e-mail in addition to the greeting.

Most people tend to read the beginning and end blocks of e-mails, so go ahead and close your e-mail out with their name once last time.

Going back to what I mentioned in the beginning- if you aren’t using e-mail campaigns you’re missing out on a super simple way to keep in touch with your clients! And if you are using e-mail campaigns, you now have 3 new pieces of information to apply to your campaigns! Keep making good impressions so people look forward to seeing your e-mails in their inboxes!

- Michelle, Sales and Marketing Assistant

Instagram vs. Snapchat - The Endless Battle

There are many difficult choices in life: hot dog or hamburger, cat or dog, pen or pencil, Kendall or Kylie (do you see where we’re going with this?) But, while these choices are tough, there is typically one option that we will choose over another. In the world of ever-changing things, some choices are not so simple to make. Lets take the battle of Snapchat vs. Instagram for example. These two opponents have quickly taken over the social scene and have consumers and companies alike asking, “which one is better?” While you may already have your own personal opinion on the matter, we thought we would share our insight as well.

In the early years of 2011, Snapchat showed its face to the world for the first time. They introduced the idea of disappearing photos to us, and made us just a little less vulnerable to show people the “behind the scenes” moments of our lives. The app also gives you the option to put a filter over your face and become a dog for the day, you know, if you want a break from the human life. Of course, this took the world by storm, and before we knew it Snapchat had grown into the hub for quick social updates – cue Snapchat stories. It may have started out being the place that millennials would go to see what their friends did the night before, but it has now grown to provide consumers with entertainment, political, and world news.

While Snapchat took off with immense success, Instagram was not far behind to follow their lead. In 2016, Instagram launched its own version of “stories” – including many of the same features as its rival. This has led them to grow even more, bringing us to their latest update, Snapchat’s facial recognition filters (sound familiar?) 

Businesses have begun encompassing the features of both platforms and have been trying to master how to use them to their advantage. This seems like a tough job, but understanding the benefits of using one over the other is important. Take Snapchat for example. The user base is mostly millennial (at a whopping 60% of users under 25), meaning that if you business model speaks mostly to that age demographic, focusing on branding through Snapchat would not be a bad call.  Also, the app tends to be used for more “fun” and “unfiltered” content as opposed to pre-planned and designed photos shared in Instagram. In addition, Instagram showcases its “stories” feature based upon who viewers engage with the most on the platform. By showing the stories at the top of the news feed, brands have a higher chance of being viewed by their audience, which is often much larger on Instagram as stories are publically shown by default.

So what's the point? Well, while both platforms help to promote your brand, it’s all about where the eyeballs are. As Instagram continues to release new features, people will continue to be drawn to what is new. While these features may mimic Snapchat, users will still be drawn to check out the newest Instagram features – so why not utilize these and let your brand be what they see?

- Alicia, Marketing Assistant